The present invention relates to an electrothermal acceleration device of a weapon which accelerates projectiles from a launching tube with a plasma heated with a pair of electrodes at a breech and breechblock of the launching tube.
In prior electrothermal acceleration devices of this type, a conversion of electromagnetic energy to thermal energy is utilized in that a hot plasma for driving the projectile is produced and heated by means of an electric arc burning between fixed electrodes (see, for example, Federal Republic of Germany patent publication no. DE-A 3,613,259). The fixed electrodes are arranged at the breechblock of a lauching tube and form a plasma burner. The two electrodes are insulated from one another by separating a front portion of a housing from a rear portion with components made of non-conductive materials. In this region in particular, special measures must be taken to realize a sufficiently tight electrical and mechanical seal. In spite of a low energy of less than 250 kJ, it is sufficient to destroy components in the region by erosion, burning and chemical reactions. Moreover, in order to remove the damage, including repair of the plasma burner, and to load the launching tube, it is necessary to almost completely disassemble the acceleration device.